Biographical profile

Van Wardlaw

Executive Vice President, Strategy & Business Planning

Van M. Wardlaw was named as TVA’s Executive Vice President of Strategy & Business Planning in January 2010. In this role, he is responsible for ensuring proper development and management of TVA’s strategic, system, and financial planning, in addition to forecasting and competitive intelligence for the Agency. His group also oversees TVA’s Integrated Resource Planning effort.

He worked previously in TVA’s planning and commercial sector as Executive Vice President of Power Supply & Fuels; Senior Vice President, Commercial Operations & Fuels; and as Vice President of Bulk Power Trading. His Natural Gas Work Group was named TVA Team of the Year in 2007.

Before that, Wardlaw was TVA’s Vice President of Transmission & Reliability (formerly Electric System Operations), responsible for real time control of TVA’s 32,000-MW generation fleet and 17,000 miles of transmission lines. His group also served as the NERC Reliability Coordinator for five other regional utilities overseeing reliability for 12 states in the Southeast and Midwest.

Wardlaw had previously served as TVA’s Vice President of Transmission Operations & Maintenance and has worked in all aspects of power operations and delivery. In addition, he has served in various leadership roles in Customer Resources, Economic Development, and Power Marketing.

A native of Memphis, Wardlaw graduated from Mississippi State University (MSU) with an Electrical Engineering degree. He earned an MBA with honors from the University of Mississippi. He is a Registered Professional Engineer and has been designated as a Distinguished Fellow of the MSU Bagley College of Engineering.

Wardlaw serves on the Executive Committee and Board of the SERC Electric Reliability Region and previously served in committee positions with the North American Electric Reliability Council (NERC). In addition he was Chairperson for the Combined Federal Campaign (United Way) for the greater Chattanooga area in 2008 and 2009.

He and his wife, Jan, have two daughters and reside in Chattanooga.